Thanks to all of your advocacy efforts, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 (VAWA - S.1925) appears to be moving again. There is a good chance that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may bring VAWA to a floor vote soon. Let's get VAWA a few more co-sponsors to make sure it sails through the Senate! Please call AND email your senators and urge them to co-sponsor, if they are not already on the bill, and to support a "clean" VAWA, with no harmful amendments. Republican senators who have joined as co-sponsors also need positive reinforcement (see list below). Use our formatted message or write one of your own, but please contact your senators ASAP.

Gov. Scott Walker will sign a number of bills into law this week. They’re the result of the Legislature’s final, regular flood period of the year. It ended last week.

One bill the governor might sign would limit the damages a worker could seek from an employer in discrimination cases. As WUWM’s Ann-Elise Henzl reports, the measure – like many this session – was touted as a “pro-business” reform.

She-PAC Promoting Conservative Women for Office

Women are being supported by Democrats and Republicans to run for office like never before. Emily's List has been a progressive supporter for many years, now there is She-PAC, a hybrid Super and normal PAC. The Daily Beast lays out the story here.

My questions:

What do we have in common?

Why are the conservative women talking about jobs, economy & avoiding the social issues? (And why might it be a winning strategy for them?)

What can progressive women learn from their conservative sisters?

What can conservative women learn from their progressive sisters?

When can we have a bridging conversation about what unique qualities women bring to legislating?

For people in financial-sector jobs -- such as insurance agents, security sales agents, financial managers and clerks -- men outearn women by a wider margin than in any other area of the economy, according to a recent analysis of Census data by Bloomberg News. [MORE]

In this short film by @Rachael_Fulton and @aimeebev, nineteen women living in Scotland, but hailing from places such as Botswana, Russia, Glasgow and Sri Lanka, all share their feelings about womanhood, discrimination, their childhood dreams and their hopes for the next generation of women.

Gloria Feldt, former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, and Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York, discuss how the regulation of women’s reproductive rights is part of a much broader effort to limit freedom. “The abortion issue itself has never been about abortion. It has always been the tip of a much larger ideological iceberg that is about the nature and purpose of human sexuality and the nature and purpose of women’s place in the world,” says Feldt. [MORE]

Why are we talking about contraception right now? Folks on the left say it's a right wing Republican ploy to distract from an economy that's improving. Folks on the right say its a Democratic ploy to distract from an economy that's not improving fast enough.

SPEAKING of AMERICA with Don ManningMondays from 11 pm to 1 am Eastern Time (8 pm to 11 pm Pacific)

For all the Republican apoplexy over women and contraception, you never hear any of the party's male politicians manning up with a male chastity pledge that would make birth control less necessary.

It takes two to tango, as they say, but only one gets pregnant, or called a "slut," or is subjected to so much punitive legislation -- most of it authored by men who would faint en masse at the prospect of going through labor and delivery.

There have been some rumblings of a Lysistrata-style rebellion, with women refusing all male advances until they quit waging war (against the female population, in this case).

Yet there's very little mention of the male role in acts of potential procreation. If Republican men have so much reverence for what goes on inside a woman's womb that they will personally stand guard at the entrance, it's time they held themselves to the same standard.

These guys could end their convulsions over birth control tomorrow if they just stopped having sex with women and forced other men to do the same. Or if they underwent vasectomies. Or if they had sex only when both partners intend pregnancy and parenthood to result -- and then they'd better pray that everything goes right because state lawmakers may well be overruling doctors on what type of emergency care for pregnant women is "morally" acceptable.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. On the eve of those arguments, the National Women’s Law Center issued a report and video highlighting the gains for women under health care reform and the fact that discrimination in health care costs women over $1 billion a year. [MORE]

Five of six North Idaho senators opposed legislation to require Idaho women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, but the bill passed the Senate 23-12 Monday after an emotional 90-minute debate.

State Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, said, “You know, fellow senators, as a woman, and as a person of faith, this bill makes me want to cry. I want an end to abortion as well as all of you do, and I am totally opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. But I find this bill to be intrusive into my faith and it is punitive as a woman.”

Five Republicans joined all seven of the Senate’s Democrats in an unsuccessful effort to defeat the measure, Senate Bill 1387. It now moves to a House committee, where it’s also expected to pass.

Men earn more than women, work less, and occupy more of the top jobs – but women live longer, are better educated and get to retire younger. How best to harness the talents of both sexes for better lives all round? [MORE]

Eighteen years ago, Congress took an important step to addressing the rise in domestic violence and sexual assault in this country. I was proud to help lead the effort to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, and I am proud to add my name to the bipartisan bill to continue the program this year. The law is the backbone to provide highly-effective programs that have helped us gain ground in putting an end to domestic and sexual violence. This year's reauthorization legislation will continue to move us forward by strengthening the ability of states, law enforcement, and service providers to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. [MORE]

March is Women’s Month worldwide, intended to celebrate the advancement of women’s accomplishments and equality. While there are many individual accomplishments to celebrate overall the picture is not rosy, particularly in the United States.

Research data from the workplace shows evidence that in North America, and particularly in the United States, the situation for women is deteriorating and the glass ceiling may become concrete. [MORE]

In recent months, a swarm of controversies have erupted over issues of women's health — from the split in the Catholic church over employer coverage of contraceptives to the proposed ultrasound laws in Virginia and Texas to the uproar over funding for Planned Parenthood. Transcript and audio, HERE.

"[State Rep. Matthew] Hill, the bill's sponsor, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Tennessee Right To Life, the anti-abortion group that first suggested the bill to conservative state lawmakers."

WASHINGTON — Women still pay more than men for the same health insurance coverage, according to new research and data from online brokers.

The new health care law will prohibit such “gender rating,” starting in 2014. But gaps persist in most states, with no evidence that insurers have taken steps to reduce them.

For a popular Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in Chicago, a 30-year-old woman pays $375 a month, which is 31 percent more than what a man of the same age pays for the same coverage, according to eHealthInsurance.com, a leading online source of health insurance.

In a report to be issued this week, the National Women’s Law Center, a research and advocacy group, says that in states that have not banned gender rating, more than 90 percent of the best-selling health plans charge women more than men.

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, in a fight for his political survival and facing Democratic charges he’s waging war on women, plans to blunt the gender assault this week by crossing party lines to lend his high-profile support to a controversial domestic violence bill.

The Bay State’s sole Republican in Congress tells the Herald that in a contest against likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, he can show he’s been there for women, with a compelling personal story to back him up.

“A lot of it stems from things I went through,” Brown said about his support for reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, despite a new controversial rider that has turned off conservatives. Brown details abuse from his mother’s boyfriend and a stepfather in his autobiography, “Against All Odds,” which comes out in paperback this week. [MORE]

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